Afghanistan’s exiled ex-president Ashraf Ghani insisted Wednesday he left Kabul over the weekend to avoid “bloodshed,” and denied claims he stole cash before fleeing Afghanistan and ultimately moving to the United Arab Emirates, posting a defiant video to Facebook as the Taliban tightens its grip over Afghanistan and many Afghans express resentment for Ghani.
Speaking from exile today, in his first public comment since it was confirmed he was in the UAE, Ghani said he had left on the advice of government officials, telling viewers through a video streamed on Facebook: ‘If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul.’
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Ghani said that he had been attempting to stop Afghanistan from turning ‘into another Yemen of Syria‘, and he insisted allegations that he had left the country with a large amount of money were ‘baseless’ and ‘lies’.
Reports had earlier suggested that Ghani fled with $169million in his cash-stuffed helicopter and has been given asylum in Dubai on ‘humanitarian grounds’.
He said there was no truth to allegations that he escaped with ‘suitcases of cash’, saying it was all part of a ‘personality assassination’.
Ghani said on Wednesday that he hopes to return home, after fleeing to the United Arab Emirates in the face of the Taliban’s rapid advance, and said he supported talks between the Taliban and top former officials.
‘For now, I am in the Emirates so that bloodshed and chaos is stopped,’ he said in a video message – his first appearance since leaving the capital on Sunday. He noted he had ‘no intention’ to remain in exile.
‘I am currently in talks to return to Afghanistan.’
The United Arab Emirates announced earlier in the day that it was hosting Ghani ‘on humanitarian grounds’.
In his message posted to Facebook, Ghani added that he supports talks between the Taliban and top former government officials, after it emerged that Taliban members had met with former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who headed the failed peace process.
Taliban leaders have said they have ‘pardoned all former government officials’, according to the monitoring group SITE.
Ghani succeeded Karzai as leader of Afghanistan in 2014. Mr Ghani told a Facebook live broadcast, according to the translation by Al Jazeera: ‘What had happened 25 years ago in Afghanistan was going to take place again.
That was something that needed to be avoided, a shameful development like that. ‘The dignity of Afghanistan was important for me, and that was to be ensured, so I had to leave Afghanistan in order to present bloodshed, in order to make sure that a huge disaster (was) prevented.’
He said: ‘When it comes to the political leadership of the Taliban, it was a failure on their part and a failure on our part that the negotiations did not lead to anything, the peace process should lead to the end of war.’
He added: ‘Currently I am in the UAE so that disasters are avoided. I’m in consultation with others until I (can) return so that I can continue my efforts for justice for the Afghans.’
The address comes as witnesses said at least three people were killed in anti-Taliban protests in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday as the Islamist group moved to consolidate power – and Western countries ramped up evacuations from a chaotic Kabul airport.
The new government may take the form of a ruling council, with Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada in overall charge, a senior member of the group said.
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